Throwing a Stone for Good Luck
by Crazyeight
Summary: It is said that if you throw a stone atop the shinto shrine, good luck is in your future. After a year of chaotic luck, Takato aims to change his, though he may need a little help to do it. One shot.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Throwing a Stone for Good Luck

A Digimon Tamers story by Crazyeight

"Hey look. A torii."

Rika turned to look at Takato who had drew to a halt behind her. Raising an eyebrow, she went back over to him, hands in her pocket. The goggle-wearing boy was standing before a long, door-less, red-colored gate with a curved top arching skyward.

"Yeah, it's a torii," she said. "You act like you haven't seen them before."

"Very funny," Takato laughed, smiling at the red-haired girl. "I've seen them plenty of times before."

"Then what's the deal?" Rika asked, shrugging her shoulders with an expression that suggested only mild curiosity and boredom. As much as she liked Takato, there were times that she couldn't understand why he would suddenly focus on something.

"Well…" Searching around, Takato quickly located a stone – small and light – and tossed it in his hand for a moment. Spacing out his feet, he narrowed his eyes, tilting his head first this way, then that before finally tossing it. The stone flew through the air, aiming for the top beam, only to bounce off the edge and tumble back down to the ground.

"Ahhh…man…" Takato moaned. "I was _so_ close too!"

"Your luck is just terrible, Takato," Rika said, smiling at him sympathetically. "You know the universe just likes to mess around with you."

"I'm kind of hoping to break that streak this year," Takato said, a determined look on his face. Throwing a stone onto the beam of a torii was supposed to bring good luck and the past year had been…chaotic to say the least. Nothing disastrous or particularly terrible, but it had gotten to the point where he wondered what he had done to make the universe choose him to be its personal chew toy.

 _"Probably because you're cute when you get flustered,"_ Rika remembered saying to him once in an offhand, absent fashion before realizing what she had said. A small tint of red colored her cheeks and she pushed the memory out of her mind.

 _At least it wasn't as bad as the tunnel,_ she thought before pushing that memory out of her mind as well. She didn't want to even entertain the reasons that possessed her to ask him what he thought of her then new shirt.

Reaching out, she gave his shoulder a soft squeeze. "Hang on," she said with a small grin, deciding to humor the boy. Heading over to where his rock fell, she retrieved it and clasped his hand into her own.

"Uh…Rika…?" Takato began a bit in surprise as he looked down at where their hands joined and she cocked an eyebrow at him.

"What?" she asked. "I'm just looking to see if some of my luck will rub off on you. I used to throw them up there all the time. I never missed."

"R-Right," Takato blushed, rubbing the back of his head in slight embarrassment. _Man, what was I thinking? For a second there, I thought… Nah, that's just dumb._

He knew where the thought came from though. Ever since the tunnels – indeed, ever since her birthday party last year it seemed as though the universe took great entertainment in making him trip over himself, whether through his feet or his words, around this girl who he first saw in a dream.

 _That…was a really long time ago, wasn't it?_ He mused, his hand relaxing now. His fingers curled around hers and he noticed for the first time how smooth her skin was.

Turning his eyes up toward hers, he almost balked as he saw they were watching him with almost cat-like amusement, twin to the small, playful grin that traced a path along her lips. A small, but luminous blush colored her features, but she didn't lose her composure.

"You can let go of me now, Gogglehead," she teased, reverting to her old nickname for him. "Unless you really _like_ holding onto my hand that is…"

"Ah! Sorry!" Takato quickly pulled away, and spun around to hide the bright blush that now burned his face. Rika eyed him, taking note of an odd feeling inside her as he did that. Disappointment? Hurt? Certainly a bit of amusement, but colored somewhat.

 _"I'm not the only one who's noticed it Rika,"_ came the memory of an all too familiar voice belonging to a yellow-furred kitsune, but she pushed it out of the way, not wanting to pursue it at the moment – if ever.

Having finished composing himself, Takato turned back around and took a deep breath. Centering his mind, he again took aim and tossed the rock at the torii.

This time it landed exactly where he wanted it to be and he let out a _whoop_ of joy.

"Looks like giving you some of my luck worked," Rika smirked, placing her hands on her hips as she looked at him triumphantly. "You owe me some ice cream now as payment."

Laughing, Takato nodded happily. Ice cream was fine as far as he was concerned. It wasn't as though there was anything more behind it, and she _did_ help him. She helped him so much it seemed, he sometimes felt bad about it, but for now…

"It's a date," he said, his mouth as per usual operating independently of his brain. His cheeks, as well as Rika's, lit up in a bright, luminous blush and he stared at Rika, mouth frozen, wondering if he should apologize to her for the presumption, joke or not…

Rika, in true fashion, shut up his fears by simply taking hold of him by the wrist and pulling him after her.

"Let's go, Takato," she said, rolling her eyes at how enormously ridiculous the boy could be sometimes. Still… Joke or not, what he said to her _did_ make her heart flutter a little. Just a little, but it seemed that every day since she first felt it, it had been getting worse. Painful, but at the same time, not in a bad way.

She tightened her grip on his wrist, feeling a sudden flash of anger and not understanding where it came from.

 _What's the big deal? He's my friend…right?_

The silence around them almost seemed to mock her.

 _I'm not letting him…or the universe…mess up our outing,_ she thought, turning a baleful gaze up at the sky, just daring the world to try something to annoy her.

For a wonder, it didn't, and a bird chirped happily in a nearby tree.

3


End file.
